the same force and effect and be as valid as if no such dissolution thereof had taken place. 6. A committee ordered to stand revived shall meet at the time mentioned in such order, and shall in its subsequent sittings and adjournments be regulated by all the provisions of the principal Act and of this Act. CAP. IX. An Act to allow Affirmations or Declarations to be made instead of Oaths in all Civil and Criminal Proceedings in Scotland. ABSTRACT OF THE ENACTMENTS. (7th April 1865.) 1. Recited Acts repealed. 2. Power to persons objecting to be sworn from alleged conscientious motives to make affirmation, &c. By this Act, After reciting that doubts have arisen whether the provisions of the 18 & 19 Vict. c. 25, intituled 'An Act to allow Affirmations or Declarations to be made instead of Oaths in certain Cases in Scotland,' be applicable to all courts of civil judicature, and to all civil proceedings: And that the relief afforded by that Act to persons refusing or being unwilling from conscientious motives to be sworn in courts of civil judicature has since been extended to all courts of criminal jurisdiction, and to all criminal proceedings, by the 26 & 27 Vict. c. 85; and that it is desirable to remove such doubts, and to make the law as to affirmations uniform for all courts and for all proceedings, whether civil or criminal: It therefore is Enacted as follows:- 1. The said recited Acts shall be and the same are hereby repealed. 2. If any person called as a witness in any court of civil or criminal jurisdiction in Scotland, or required or desiring to make an affidavit or deposition in the course of any proceeding, or in any matter, whether civil or criminal, shall refuse or be unwilling from alleged conscientious motives to be sworn, it shall be lawful for the Court or Judge, or other presiding officer or person qualified to take affidavits or depositions, upon being satisfied of the sincerity of such objection, to permit such person, instead of being sworn, to make his or her solemn affirmation or declaration in the words following: 'I A.B. do solemnly, sincerely, and truly affirm ' and declare, That the taking of any Oath is, according to my Religious Belief, unlawful; and I 'do also solemnly, sincerely, and truly affirm and declare, &c.' Which solemn affirmation and declaration shall be of the same force and effect as if such person had taken an oath in the usual form. 3. If any person making such solemn affirmation or declaration shall wilfully, falsely, and corruptly affirm or declare any matter or thing which, if the same had been sworn in the usual form, would have amounted to wilful and corrupt perjury, every such person so offending shall incur the same penalties as by the laws and statutes of this kingdom are or may be enacted or provided against persons convicted of wilful and corrupt perjury. 4. This Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Affirmations (Scotland) Act, 1865." CAP. X. An Act to apply the Sum of Fifteen Millions out of the Consolidated Fund to the Service of the Year One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five. (7th April 1865.) CAP. XI. An Act for punishing Mutiny and Desertion, and for the better Payment of the Army and their Quarters. ABSTRACT OF THE ENACTMENTS. (7th April 1865.) Number of men to consist of 142,477, including those employed at depots of regiments serving in India, but exclusive of those actually serving in India. 1. Articles of War made by Her Majesty to be judicially taken notice of, and copies printed by the Queen's printer to be transmitted to Judges, &c. 2. Persons subject to this Act. 3. Provisions of this Act to extend to Jersey, Guernsey, &c. 4. Colonial and foreign troops in Her Majesty's pay to be subject to provisions of this Act. 5. Provision as to the militia and yeomanry corps. 6. Power to constitute courts-martial. 7. Place where offenders may he tried. 8. Powers of general courts martial. 9. Powers of district or garrison courts-martial. 10. Powers of regimental or detachment courts-martial. 11. Courts-martial on line of march or in troop ships, &c. 12. Powers of detachment general courts martial. 13. As to swearing and summoning of witnesses. 14. No second trial for the same offence, but revision may be allowed. 15. Crimes punishable with death. 16. Judgment of death may be commuted for penal servitude or other punishments. 17. Embezzlement, &c. of stores punishable by penal servitude, or by fine, imprisonment, &c. 18. As to execution of sentences of penal servitude in the United Kingdom. 19. As to execution of sentences of penal servitude in the colonies, India, or elsewhere out of Her Majesty's dominions. 20. A sentence of penal servitude may be commuted for imprisonment, &c. 21. Of forfeitures, when combined with penal servitude. 22. Power to inflict corporal punishment. 23. Power to inflict corporal punishment and imprisonment. 24. Power to commute corporal punishment for imprisonment, &c. 25. Power to commute a sentence of cashiering. 26. Marking deserters, or soldiers discharged with ignominy. 27. Power of imprisonment by different kinds of courts martial. 28. As to imprisonment of offenders already under sentence. 29. Regulations as to military prisons. 30. As to the custody of military offenders under sentence of court-martial and in other cases. 31. As to the removal or discharge of prisoners in certain cases. 32. Provision for subsistence of soldiers when imprisoned in common gaols. 33. Expiration of imprisonment of soldiers in common gaols. 34. Apprehension of deserters in the United Kingdom.-In Her Majesty's foreign dominions.—Transfer of deserters. 35. As to the temporary custody of deserters in gaols. 36. Desertion of recruits prior to joining their regiments or corps. 37. Fraudulent confession of desertion. 38. Furlough in case of sickness. 39. No person acquitted or convicted by the civil magistrate or by a jury to be tried by a court-martial for the same offence. 40. Soldiers liable to be taken out of Her Majesty's service only for felony, misdemeanor, or for debts amounting to 301. and upwards.—Soldiers not liable to be taken out of Her Majesty's service for debts under 301. or for not maintaining their families, or for breach of contract. 41. Officers not to be sheriffs or mayors, &c. 42. Questions to be put to recruits on enlisting. 43. Recruits when deemed to be enlisted. 44. When recruits to be taken before a Justice. 45. Dissent and relief from enlistment. 46. Attesting of recruits. 47. Recruits until they have been attested or received pay, not triable by court-martial, but in certain cases punishable as rogues and vagabonds. 48. Attested recruits triable in some cases either before two Justices or before a court martial. 49. Recruits absconding. 50. As to militiamen enlisting into regular forces. 51. Punishment of persons offending against laws relating to enlistment. 52. Enlistment and re-enlistment, and transfer to another corps abroad. 53. Soldiers may be transferred from one service to another. 54. Re-engagement of soldiers for a further term. 55. Enlistment of negroes. 56. Apprentice enlisting to be liable to serve after the expiration of his apprenticeship.—Claims of masters to apprentices. 57. Punishment of apprentices enlisting. 58. Removal of doubts as to attestation of soldiers. 59. Authorized deductions only to be made from the pay of the army. 60. Suspending operation of certain Acts herein recited. 61. Certain requirements of 6 Ann. c. 14. (I.), as to billeting in Ireland, not now necessary. 62. How and where troops may be billeted. 63. Billeting the Guards in and near Westminster. 64. Military officers not to act as Justices in billeting. 65. Allowance to innkeepers. 66. Interpretation of Act.-Powers and regulations as to billets.—Exemptions from billets. 67. Supply of carriages. 68. Rates to be paid for carriages, and regulations relating thereto. 69. As to supply of carriages in cases of emergency, &c. 70. Justices empowered to reimburse constables for sums expended by them. 71. Routes in Ireland. 72. Tolls. 73. Ferries. 74. Marching money on discharge. 75. Ordinary course of criminal justice not to be interfered with.—Punishment of officers obstructing civil justice. 76. Penalty for disobedience by agents. 77. Penalty on trafficking in commissions. 78. Penalty for procuring false musters. 79. Penalty on unlawful recruiting. 80. Penalty for inducing soldiers to desert. 81. Penalty for forcible entry in pursuit of deserters without warrant. 82. Penalties on aiding escape or attempt to escape of prisoners, and on breach of prison regulations.—Certain provisions of Acts for regulating gaols to apply to military prisons. 83. Penalty 84. Penalty on keepers of prisons for refusing to confine, &c. military offenders. on purchasing soldiers' necessaries, stores, &c. 85. Penalties on civil subjects offending against the laws relating to billets.—On toll collectors demanding toll from officers, soldiers, or for carriages;—and on persons personating soldiers, &c. 86. Penalties on the military offending against the laws relating to billets. 87. Penalty on killing game without leave. 88. Form of actions at law. 89. Recovery of penalties. 90. Appropriation of penalties. 91. Mode of recording a soldier's settlement. 92. Licences of canteens. 93. Attestation of accounts. 94. Commissaries, &c. to attest their accounts. 95. Administration of oaths.—Perjury. 96. Offences against former Mutiny Acts and Articles of War. 97. Officers and soldiers to conform to 26 & 27 Vict. c. 48, &c. 98. Where troops are serving beyond the jurisdiction of the Courts of Requests, &c., actions of debt not exceeding 400 rupees to be cognizable by a military Court.-Composition and constitution of the Court prescribed.— President, &c. of Court to take the following oath.-Powers of such Court defined. 99. Provisions relating to courts-martial on officers and soldiers of Her Majesty's Indian forces.-Proviso. 100. As to trial of officers and soldiers serving in India. 101. Duration of this Act. By this Act, After reciting that the raising or keeping a standing army within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in time of peace, unless number of such forces should consist of 142,477 men, including 9,109, all ranks, to be employed with the depots in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland of regiments serving in Her it be with the consent of Parliament, is against Majesty's Indian possessions, but exclusive of the law: And that it is adjudged necessary by Her Majesty and this present Parliament that a body of forces should be continued for the safety of the United Kingdom, the defence of the possessions of Her Majesty's Crown, and the preservation of the balance of power in Europe, and that the whole VOL. XLIII.—STAT. numbers actually serving within Her Majesty's Indian possessions: And that no man can be forejudged of life or limb, or subjected in time of peace to any kind of punishment within this realm by martial law, or in any other manner than by judg ment of his peers, and according to the known and C established laws of this realm; yet nevertheless it being requisite, for the retaining all the beforementioned forces in their duty, that an exact discipline be observed, and that soldiers who shall mutiny or stir up sedition, or shall desert Her Majesty's service, or be guilty of crimes and offences to the prejudice of good order and military discipline, be brought to a more exemplary and speedy punishment than the usual forms of the law will allow : It is therefore Enacted as follows: 1. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty to make Articles of War for the better government of Her Majesty's army, which Articles shall be judicially taken notice of by all Judges and in all Courts whatsoever; and copies of the same, printed by the Queen's printer, shall, as soon as may be after the same shall have been made and established by Her Majesty, be transmitted by Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the War Department to the Judges of Her Majesty's superior Courts at Westminster, Dublin, and Edinburgh respectively, and also to the governors of Her Majesty's dominions abroad; provided that no person within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, or within the British Isles, shall by such Articles of War be subject to suffer any punishment extending to life or limb, or to be kept in penal servitude, except for crimes which are by this Act expressly made liable to such punishments as aforesaid, or shall be subject, with reference to any crimes made punishable by this Act, to be punished in any manner which shall not accord with the provisions of this Act: Provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall in any manner prejudice or affect any Articles of War or other matters made, enacted, or in force, or which may hereafter be made, enacted, or in force, under the authority of the Government of India, respecting officers or soldiers or followers in Her Majesty's Indian army, being natives of India; and on the trial of all offences committed by any such native officer or soldier or follower, reference shall be had to the Articles of War framed by the Government of India for such native officers, soldiers, or followers, and to the established usages of the service. 2. All the provisions of this Act shall apply to all persons who are or shall be commissioned or in pay as an officer, or who are or shall be listed or in pay as a non-commissioned officer or soldier, and to all warrant officers, and to all persons employed on the recruiting service receiving pay, and all pensioners receiving allowances in respect of such service, and to persons who are or shall be hired to be employed in the Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, and to master gunners, and to conductors of stores, and to the corps of Royal Military Surveyors and Draftsmen, and to all officers and persons who are or shall be serving on the Commissariat Staff or in the Commissariat Staff Corps, and to officers serving in the Military Store Department, and to persons in the War Depart ment, who are or shall be serving with any part of Her Majesty's army at home or abroad, under the command of any commissioned officer, and (subject to and in accordance with the provisions of an Act, 6 & 7 Vict. c. 95.) to any out-pensioners of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, who may be called out on duty in aid of the civil power, or for muster or inspection, or who having volunteered their services for that purpose shall be kept on duty in any fort, town, or garrison, and to all military store officers and other civil officers who are or shall be employed by or act under the Secretary of State for War at any of Her Majesty's establishments in the islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and the islands thereto belonging, or at foreign stations; and all the provisions of this Act shall apply to all persons belonging to Her Majesty's Indian forces who are or shall be commissioned or in pay as officers, or who shall be listed or in pay as non-commissioned officers or soldiers, or who are or shall be serving or hired to be employed in the artillery or any of the trains of artillery, or as master gunners or gunners, or as conductors of stores, or who are or shall be serving in the Department of Engineers, or in the corps of Sappers and Miners, or Pioneers, or as military surveyors or draftsmen, or in the Ordnance or public works or commissariat departments, and to all storekeepers and other civil officers employed under the Ordnance, and to all veterinary surgeons, medical storekeepers, apothecaries, hospital stewards, and others serving in the medical department of the said forces, and to all licensed suttlers, and all followers in or of any of the said forces; provided that nothing in this Act contained shall extend to affect any security which has been or shall be given by any military store officer, barrack master, or other officer, or their sureties, for the due performance of their respective offices, but that all such securities shall be and remain in full force and effect. 3. This Act shall extend to the islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, and the islands thereto belonging, as to the provisions herein contained for enlisting of recruits, whether minors or of full age, and swearing and attesting such recruits, and for mustering and paying, and as to the provisions for the trial and punishment of officers and soldiers who shall be charged with mutiny and desertion, or any other of the offences which are by this Act declared to be punishable by the sentence of a court-martial, and also as to the provisions which relate to the punishment of persons who shall conceal deserters, or shall knowingly buy, exchange, or otherwise receive any arms, medals for good conduct or for distinguished or other service, clothes, military furniture, or regimental necessaries from any soldier or deserter, or who shall cause the colour of any such clothes to be changed, or who shall aid in the escape of a prisoner from a military prison, or who shall introduce forbidden articles into such prison, or shall carry out any such articles, or who shall assault any officer of such prison, and also as to the provisions for exempting soldiers from being taken out of Her Majesty's service for not supporting or for leaving chargeable to any parish any wife or child or children, or on account of any breach of contract to serve or work for any employer, or on account of any debts under 301. in the said islands. 4. All officers and soldiers of any troops mustered and in pay, which shall be raised and serving in any of Her Majesty's dominions abroad, or in places in possession of or occupied by Her Majesty's subjects under the command of any officer having any commission immediately from Her Majesty, shall be subject to the provisions of this Act and of Her Majesty's Articles of War, in like manner as Her Majesty's other forces are; and if such officers and soldiers, having been made prisoners, be sent into Great Britain or Ireland, although not allowed to serve therein, all the provisions of this Act in regard to billeting soldiers shall apply to such officers and soldiers. 5. Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to extend to any militia forces or yeomanry or volunteer corps in Great Britain or Ireland, excepting only where by any Act for regulating any of the said forces or corps the provisions contained in any Act for punishing mutiny and desertion are or shall be specifically made applicable to such forces or corps. 6. For the purpose of bringing offenders against this Act and against the Articles of War to justice, Her Majesty may from time to time, in like manner as has been heretofore used, grant commissions under the Royal Sign Manual for the holding of courts-martial within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and may grant commissions or warrants under the said Royal Sign Manual to the chief governor or governors of Ireland, the commander of the forces, or the person or persons commanding in chief, or commanding for the time being, any body of troops belonging to Her Majesty's army, as well within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British isles, as in any of Her Majesty's garrisons and dominions or elsewhere beyond seas, for convening courtsmartial, and for authorizing any officer under their respective commands to convene courts-martial, as occasion may require, for the trial of offences committed by any of the forces under the command of any such last-mentioned officer, whether the same shall have been committed before or after such officer shall have taken upon him such command: Provided that the officer so authorized be not below the degree of a field officer, except in detached situations beyond seas where a field officer is not in command, in which case a captain may be authorized to convene district or garrison courtsmartial: every officer so authorized to convene courts-martial may confirm the sentence of any court-martial convened by him according to the terms of his warrant. 7. Any person subject to this Act who shall, in any part of Her Majesty's dominions or elsewhere, commit any of the offences for which he may be liable to be tried by court-martial by virtue of this Act or of the Articles of War, may be tried and punished for the same in any part of Her Majesty's dominions or in any other place whereto he may have come or where he may be after the commission of the offence, as if the offence had been committed where such trial shall take place. 8. Every general court-martial convened within the United Kingdom or the British isles shall consist of not less than thirteen commissioned officers, and shall have power to sentence any officer or soldier to suffer death, penal servitude, imprisonment, forfeiture of pay or pension, or any other punishment which shall accord with the usage of the service; but no judgment of death by a courtmartial shall pass unless two-thirds at least of the officers present shall concur therein; and no courtmartial within the United Kingdom or elsewhere held under the provisions of this Act shall have power to award a sentence of transportation. 9. Every district or garrison court-martial convened within the United Kingdom or the British Isles shall consist of not less than seven commissioned officers, and shall have the same power as a general court-martial to sentence any soldier to such punishments as shall accord with the provisions of this Act: Provided always, that no such district or garrison court-martial shall have power to try a commissioned officer, or to pass any sentence of death or penal servitude. 10. A regimental or detachment court-martial shall consist of not less than five commissioned officers, unless it is found to be impracticable to assemble that number, in which case three shall be sufficient, and shall have power to sentence any soldier to corporal punishment, or to imprisonment, and to forfeiture of pay, in such manner as shall accord with the provisions of this Act. 11. In cases of mutiny and gross insubordination or other offences committed on the line of march, or on board any transport ship, convict ship, merchant vessel, or troop ship, not in commission, the offender may be tried by a regimental or detachment court-martial, and the sentence may be confirmed and carried into execution on the spot by the officer in the immediate command of the troops, provided that the sentence shall not exceed that which a regimental court-martial is competent to award. 12. It shall be lawful for any officer commanding any detachment or portion of troops serving in any place beyond seas where it may be found |